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For thousands of years, people regarded that earth and the physical world as alive. All things possessed a soul that guided their development and purpose. God was considered the soul of the physical universe.
Since the 17th century, there arose a group of scientists who turned away from this tradition to declare that nothing was really alive, that even life forms were nothing more than mechanical and dead entities governed by physical laws.
Rupert Sheldrake has joined a contingent of biologists and other scientists reacting against this development. They are led by the famous British scientists Jim Lovelock, who developed the Gaia hypothesis that the earth and indeed the whole universe are a living organisms that exhibit qualities of purpose and intelligence in developing a planet where intelligent beings can thrive. We are living, thinking beings because we are part of a living, thinking universe.
Sheldrake marshals developments in science itself that support belief in the soul. Most impressive are the descriptions of changes in magnetic and gravitational fields that were required for the development of life on earth.
The last few chapters are on how these animistic findings affect both religious and philosophical beliefs to change our whole orientation towards life and the earth. It is hard to over-emphasize the positive changes this will make in people's lives and happiness. We are already living in heaven.
The revival of the soul as part of the body and not separate from it will do great things for psychological health and the happiness of people. The same thing for the concept of nature as the face of God. It will cause a revolution in religion.
Sheldrake's brilliant concept of the soul as a creative field interacting with other fields past and present is tantalizing and full of great possibilities.
I have one small objection to Shedrake's belief that all things are alive. This runs the danger of ignoring the uniqueness of life and parallels the mechanistic belief that all things are dead.
Chilean biologists Maturana and Varela have identified not growth or reproduction but metabolism the unique feature of life--the ability to turn foreign matter into one's own substance.
They pointed out that the brain also operates by metabolizing new information to enlarge and improve its ability to comprehend more. .
The metabolizing feature of living things has greatly altered the development of our own planet. We can expect it will affect the rest of the universe as well.
- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Park Street Press; Reprint edition (April 1, 1994)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0892815108
- ISBN-13: 978-0892815104
- Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
- Average Customer Review: 9 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,583,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2475 in Science & Religion
- #1609 in Cosmology (Books)
- #2648 in Unexplained Mysteries
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